My Policies

Payment

• At this time PayPal is the only payment form I accept.
• Payments must be in United States Dollars.
• You must be a verified buyer.
• You are paying to a Premier or (once I upgrade it) Business account, so cash or credit card payments are both accepted and there is no advantage to me for one kind or the other.
• I get a lot of requests to pay by Money Order, cashiers check, etc. I'm on a time budget and while I realise that refusing these requests may be costing me some sales, it's just too much trouble to deal with. Paying with PayPal means no traveling to cash things, the payment is there, and your address is linked in so I can print a shipping label from within eBay.

Shipping

• Shipping is as listed at the bottom (eBay generated). If the listing has a shipping amount which conflicts with the bottom amount, the bottom amount governs (please point this out if you spot it, thanks!)
• I will only ship to the PayPal Confirmed Address associated with the account. If you do not have a Confirmed Address it means the shipment is not eligible for Seller Protection. Please make sure you have a Confirmed Address before you bid or there will be a delay while you get one.
• USPS is my preferred shipper. Except in extraordinary circumstances I will not ship any other way than USPS Priority Mail. If you wish to make other arrangments contact me in advance of bidding (please don't ask AFTER winning or purchasing) but expect that I probably will decline.
• The shipping charges I set are given with each lot. The charge is an estimate of what it will cost, with a margin added to cover packing material and other costs, as well as to allow me to average out the cost if I underestimate on some shipments.
• I do combine shipping costs, if you buy more than 3 lots, I may be willing to discuss further discounts from the eBay calculated combined shipping already built into the process.
• At this time I do not ship outside the US. If you are an overseas bidder you will have to have a US shipping address. Sorry, but I'm on a time budget and while I realise that may be costing me some sales, it's just too much trouble to deal with. Restricting shipping to the US means I don't have to deal with customs forms and can print a shipping label from within eBay.
• I do not ship every day. Most weeks I only ship once a week. As I ramp up, and as my wife gets more comfortable with the process, we may increase frequency, but I use Priority Mail for the convenience to me, not because I'm committing to a very speedy process. If you're really in a hurry you may want to buy from other sellers.

Elapsed Times

• I am a consultant. That means sometimes I am away from home for many days. This sometimes impacts times to do things like pack orders, calculate shipping, process payments and the like, but I usually check email every day.
• I think it is important to acknowledge orders received within a short (3 day) limit. I will do everything I can to abide by that. If for some reason I haven't acknowledged your order within 7 days I feel you are well within your rights to request a cancel and I will honor it without penalty. But please do give me a bit of leeway. Further, if you're not seeing me post to various LEGO discussion sites like LUGNET, maybe I am having technical problems. That's VERY unlikely but don't rule it out. In that case (only) try using eBay messaging. But use regular email for regular communication please.
• As I said, it may take me extra time to do things. I will try very hard to keep you in the loop. But once we've communicated, I assume you intend to complete the order. So please don't enter into an bid or deal with me if you are uncomfortable with delays. Sometimes things happen. I will not honor cancel requests (after we've communicated) for reasons of slowness or because you got the items somewhere else. A eBay auction win or buy it now purchase or store purchase is a binding contract and I will hold you to it.
• I expect you to contact me in a timely manner and make payment arrangements. I will start the "strike" process against you if you don't make some effort to contact me in a reasonable timeframe and keep me in the loop.
• If you're really in a hurry you may want to buy from other sellers.

Feedback

• Feedback is an important part of the eBay experience. While other sites may have systems that are more effective, this system is what we have and we should use it.
• Please let me know if anything has went awry in our transaction before you leave non positive feedback, please. I will do everything I reasonably can to make you a satisfied customer, given that your expectations take my policies, above, into account.
• Your leaving feedback is your signal that the package has arrived and you are satisfied. I expect the buyer to leave feedback first, and once you do I will promptly do the same.
• You can read my feedback "between the lines" as it were, what I leave out may be areas that weren't quite as perfect as what I mention.
• I will send you a reminder after some time has transpired and you haven't left feedback. If you still choose not to, that's your perogative but I won't leave you any in turn.
• I will not engage in transactions solely to boost feedback so please don't ask.

Disclaimers

• The content of these auction listings are ©1997, 2005 by Larry Pieniazek.
• LEGO® is a registered trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this site. Please visit the Official LEGO® WWW page.
• The background image used in many Milton Train Works images (track, trees, ground cover, etc) was parameterized for me in POVRay by Bram Lambrecht. Usage rights have been granted to me for a fee. If you wish to use it you will need to contact him directly.
• The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of:
  • my employer IBM.
  • or any of my my previous employers: Cambridge Technology Partners, Novera, Mercator or Ascential.
  • the Lego Group.
  • OR anyone else, either.
  ...as I am loony enough to come up with them all by myself.
• Backgrounds courtesy of Fibblesnork™ (images are copyrighted by Todd Lehman).
• Listing images courtesy of:
  • LUGNET - guide.lugnet.com
  • Peeron - www.peeron.com
  • BrickSet - www.brickset.com
  • and other fine sites
  • Any uncredited reference to copyrighted or trademarked material is strictly unintentional. It will be rectified if brought to my attention.
• Some settling of contents may have occured during shipment.
• Not valid where prohibited by law.
• Do not taunt happy fun ball.
• Play Well!